Archive for Equipping
Leading difficult people: Disorganized Debbie
Posted by: | CommentsDo you know anyone who’s always busy but never seems to get anything done? Maybe this person works for you. How do you lead someone who’s motivated and a doer, but still doesn’t contribute any meaningful results?
Meet Disorganized Debbie. She works hard and wants to succeed. Unfortunately, she looks like a rocking horse: always in motion, but never moving forward. Debbie can’t or won’t organize her work, which means she can’t achieve what she needs to for your organization.
We’ve been spending the past few weeks talking about leading difficult people. You can click the names to read about Fearful Fred, Slumped Susan, and Excited Eddie. Now let’s discuss how to understand, listen to, and lead Disorganized Debbie.
Understanding Disorganized Debbie:
- Behavior: Unfocused
- Motivated by: Direction
- Strength: Relational Connection
- Weakness: Disorganization
Listening to Disorganized Debbie:
- Privately sit down and discuss Debbie’s disorganization.
- Listen to her frustrations.
- Examine her mess.
- Determine whether she wants to get organized.
Leading Disorganized Debbie:
- Give her a lot of personal attention.
- Ask her to show you her to-do list.
- Help her organize tasks by priorities.
- Teach her time management.
- Monitor her progress often.
- Leave no room for options or uncertainty.
Growth Plan:
Help her establish a planning system (eg: Franklin Planner, DayTimer or to-do list app)
Do you lead a Disorganized Debbie? Or do you struggle with priorities and organization yourself? Debbie can only change if she wants to, but if she learns how to prioritize and keep up with all of her tasks, she can become an extremely energetic and effective employee.
Leading difficult people: Excited Eddie
Posted by: | CommentsI love spending time with enthusiastic people. I’m pretty high-energy myself. An enthusiastic follower can be a joy to work with. His excitement about his work has the potential to energize the entire team.
With one exception.
Let’s talk about Excited Eddie. He’s got loads of enthusiasm for his work, but only to a point. You see, his excitement only lasts for as long as the project is new. Eddie is a fantastic starter, but his ability to finish projects is lacking.
Just like Fearful Fred and Slumped Susan, you need to lead Excited Eddie in a way that works with his personality. If you understand, listen to, and lead him appropriately, you can harness his startup enthusiasm and help him to finish well.
Understanding Excited Eddie:
- Behavior: High Enthusiasm
- Motivated by: New Challenges
- Strength: Starts Strong
- Weakness: Seldom Finishes
Listening to Excited Eddie:
- Privately sit down and listen to Eddie’s exciting startup stories.
- Ask him for the “rest of the story.”
- Take into account how his emotion may cause him to exaggerate.
- Let him see what he lost by not seeing things through.
- If he desires to finish well, develop a game plan.
Leading Excited Eddie:
- Give him a new challenge.
- Keep him focused.
- Reward him for finishing well.
- If he’s a good starter, assign a steady and detailed person to assist him.
Growth plan:
Read Today Matters together.
Do you lead an Excited Eddie? Or are you personally more likely to start strong than to finish strong? Through guidance and effective rewards, you can channel Eddie’s enthusiasm so that it carries his work through to completion.
Leading difficult people: Slumped Susan
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s a truth that I’ve believed for a long time: Leadership is influence. Nothing more, nothing less. If a leader has no one following, he’s only taking a walk.
Of course, not everyone is easy to influence. Some followers are difficult to connect with. Last week we talked about the art of influencing difficult people, with a focus on Fearful Fred. With Fred, the goal was to get him started, to go from no momentum to sustained growth.
But what happens when a follower who had a great deal of momentum begins to fall behind? What does a leader do when this follower stumbles or stops altogether?
Let me introduce you to Slumped Susan. This is the follower who was a good performer, someone who got results and approached her tasks with enthusiasm. But somewhere on the journey, she fell off the tracks. Now, with no momentum or confidence, she’s barely moving.
Just like last week’s Fearful Fred, leading Slumped Susan requires you to understand her, be willing to listen, and give her the tools to grow. If Susan believes that you support and believe in her, she’ll be more likely to start moving forward again.
Understanding Slumped Susan:
- Attitude: Depression
- Motivated by: Coaching
- Strength: Past Success
- Weakness: Pessimism
Listening to Slumped Susan:
- Privately sit down and discuss her slump.
- Let her talk about the good old days.
- List what she did when things went bad.
- List what she did when things went well.
- If she desires to change, develop a game plan.
Leading Slumped Susan:
- Remove her from others while she’s in the slump.
- Reprioritize her workload.
- Remain with her as much as possible.
- Require her to do what is right, not what she wants to do.
- Remember to encourage her as much as possible.
Growth program:
Read The Winning Attitude together
Are you a Slumped Susan? Or do you lead one? With coaching and positive attention from the leader, Susan can regain her confidence and begin to shine again.
Next time: Excited Eddie
Leading difficult people: Fearful Fred
Posted by: | CommentsSomeone once said, “90% of the art of living consists in getting along with people you cannot understand.” Haven’t you found that to be true? I know that if everyone were just like me, then relationships would sure be a lot simpler.
But people ARE different, in wonderfully complex ways. And there IS an art to living together. If you’re a leader, the differences are amplified, because you have to not only get along but also influence the other person. So it’s especially important for a leader to learn how to handle personalities and attitudes that are different from your own.
I’ve led a lot of people over the years, and not all of them were like me. Some were especially difficult to lead. And over the years, through trial and error, I’ve discovered ways to effectively lead most people.
For EVERY person you lead, it’s important to get to know them well. Understanding is the key to success in leading a difficult person. That’s because people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. For the next few weeks, I’m going to share some tips for dealing with the difficult people that you may lead.
Let’s talk about one type of difficult person today, so you can understand who he is and where he’s coming from. This will make you a more effective leader for him and others like him.
Fearful Fred
Have you met Fred? He’s a nice guy, certainly not trying to be difficult. He’s just a person living under the influence of his fears. And their influence is amazingly strong. What Fred is most afraid of is the unknown. He avoids anything new or different, so it’s hard to lead him where he’s never been before. And his fears paralyze his productivity.
To lead Fred, you need to understand him, be willing to listen, and give him tools to grow. People truly don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. If Fred trusts you and believes that you have his best interests at heart, he can be very loyal and even courageous.
Understanding Fearful Fred:
- Attitude: Low Enthusiasm
- Motivated by: Support
- Strength: Steady Worker
- Weakness Fear of Risk
Listening to Fearful Fred:
- Privately sit down and discuss Fred’s fears.
- Identify his fears and the reasons why he has them.
- Evaluate his desire to overcome his fears.
- If his desire is high, develop a game plan.
Leading Fearful Fred:
- Plan a project together. This gives him Strategy
- Give guidelines to follow. This gives him Structure
- Do a project that is easy. This gives him Safety
- Do a project together. This gives him Security
- Do a project that is winnable. This gives him Success
Helping Fearful Fred Grow:
Read Failing Forward together.
Do you lead a Fearful Fred? Or maybe YOU are a Fearful Fred. I’ve found from personal experience that by attempting to understand and meet him where he is, a leader can successfully influence Fred and help him to grow. And a motivated Fearful Fred can also lead himself through these exercises and find courage.
Next week, we’ll talk about another difficult person: Slumped Susan.
Which comes first? Position or preparation?
Posted by: | CommentsWhen I meet people in social settings and they ask me what I do for a living, some of them are intrigued when I say I write books and speak. And they often ask what I write about. When I say leadership, the response that makes me chuckle most goes something like this: “Oh. Well, when I become a leader, I’ll read some of your books.” What I don’t say (but want to) is: “If you’d read some of my books, maybe you’d become a leader.”
Good leadership is learned in the trenches. Leading as well as they can wherever they are is what prepares leaders for more and greater responsibility. Becoming a good leader is a lifelong learning process. If you don’t try out your leadership skills and decision-making process when the stakes are small and the risks are low, you’re likely to get into trouble at higher levels when the cost of mistakes is high, the impact is far reaching, and the exposure is greater. Mistakes made on a small scale can be easily overcome. Mistakes made when you’re at the top can cost the organization greatly, and they damage a leader’s credibility.
How do you become the person you desire to be? You start now to adopt the thinking, learn the skills, and develop the habits of the person you wish to be. It’s a mistake to daydream about “one day” when you’ll be on top, instead of handling today so that it prepares you for tomorrow. As Hall of Fame basketball coach John Wooden said, “When opportunity comes it’s too late to prepare.” If you want to be a successful leader, learn to lead BEFORE you have a leadership position.
